Despite how bad the galactic situation is (who knows how many Tribe Sith are out there, Vestara being one of the more troublesome and higher profile ones and racking up quite a high body count in this book alone, Abeloth still existing, no solid lead on the Mortis dagger, and NJO-GA relations are so bad Luke Skywalker can't even meet with a GA Senator in public anymore as the GA has declared itself neutral in Sith conflicts, blaming it all on the Jedi), the Force says Luke should retire, so its time to retire, and Han and Leia decide to retire too as they have nothing better to do.

When we want to move on to the younger characters in the Expanded Universe, we decide to write a storyline that spans across cosmic realms, confusing readers immensely, just to say, "Hey, us old folks are stepping aside so you young whippersnappers can take over."

Exar Kun and Ulic are dubbed Dark Lord and Sith apprentice, respectively, by a Dark Lord speaking through time who would later be retconned into the spirit of Marka Ragnos... likely because he had the same hat.